Saturday, March 25, 2017

I am reading a book by psychologist Heidi Grant Halvorson on achieving goals. And surprisingly, it teaches a lot that is useful for a writer.

In her book “Succeed: How We Can Reach Our Goals”, Dr. Halvorson talks about having two ways of setting goals - be good or getting better. Be good goals are about proving ourselves, while getting better goals are about improving ourselves. The way we set the goal influences how we approach the goal, and whether we succeed in achieving it. It also influences our level of stress and the journey we take towards making the goal happen.

All of this is very abstract, so I will try to give a concrete example. Let’s say you are working on a book, your first novel. You get an idea, you are very excited. Then as you are writing, you notice that it’s no longer flowing as well, you seem to keep getting stuck. You write a scene and then compare that scene to your favorite books in that genre and fall short. You start to question yourself - what ever made me think I could be a writer? I am just kidding myself. You are stressed out, taut, irritable. Your family is secretly hoping you give up on this dream of being a writer if this is how you will be the whole time. You wonder what you’re doing wrong, and go on forums that talk about writer’s block and read quotes that describe writing as opening a vein.

What is going on really is that you are approaching your writing of the novel with a be good perspective. You want your book to be good, after all who doesn’t, and you are mentally comparing your performance of writing with that of successful, published authors, and seeing yourself falling short constantly.

Now let’s see another way to approach this. You sit down to write your first novel, excited, but aware that you probably have a lot to learn. You don’t have an MFA and didn’t take any fiction writing courses in University. So all you have is a story or the beginning of one, and a trusty laptop. You start writing and come to a point where the story breaks down, or it feels like every word you’re typing is the wrong one. You ask yourself what you’re doing wrong. Then you realize - this is your first novel. It couldn’t possibly be that great, or that easy to write. You decide to pause and get some books on craft, and devour them. Maybe you take an online writing course with a good instructor. Now with some knowledge, you get back to your book. And you realize that while it’s still hard, the scenes still seem floppy, at least you know what a scene is. You have a good idea of where this story is going. You can see that already you have improved so much. And you decide that no matter how terrible the writing is, you will power through and finish a draft, even if its very very rough. And you do. The whole time reminding yourself that it is a first novel, your first draft, and allowed to be terrible. You have some sleepless nights wondering if you can get to the end, but by and large you are not too stressed out. You even smile and laugh on occasion. You tell people about this crazy thing you are doing as an experiment, just to see where it will lead.

At the end of a few months of less than agonizing work, you have a rough draft of your novel. And then you go back to those books on craft, and revise the whole thing. Pulling out scenes ruthlessly, working on the motivations of your characters, agonizing over every word choice. But you can see through the process, that no matter how hard it is, the book is getting better. And you are improving as a writer with every hour you spend. This is how you tackle writing with a getting better perspective.

Notice some differences? Notice that both writers start with the same overall goal - to write a first novel. But the first writer wants their work to be instantly good, to be comparable with that of seasoned authors who have honed their craft over millions of words. While it sounds silly when I point it out, I know this isn’t so unusual. In fact, I was doing this just yesterday. I am working on a book of personal essays, and recently started reading a funny memoir by writer Jennifer Weiner - Hungry Heart. I haven’t really read many of her books, but this one is really good. So good that I am unable to get back to working on my own book at present, because I am so deflated by the thought of my own paltry language skills. But I forgot, until I wrote this post, that she has many best-selling books under her belt, and many more years of writing. I should aspire to be a good writer, even a great one. But I shouldn’t let that aspiration for tomorrow stop me from putting down the words today.

Be good is a great goal for certain situations. If you have practiced for years and are going on stage to perform, by all means have your goal be to be as good as you possibly can. Aim to give a flawless performance. But if you are walking into dance class or acting class or poetry writing class, for the first time, or the fiftieth, but you are going to learn a new routine or try a new form of the skill, then walk in with an attitude of getting better. Aim to learn, to improve, to start wherever you are and build from there.

If you are a newbie writer, by all means look up to your writing heroes for inspiration. But don’t forget to come back down to earth, and remember that you starting with a different mound of clay than them, and you don’t yet have a potter’s practiced hand. But that is no excuse to fear the clay - work with it, make it your own, put in the time. And maybe one day you will even be sitting right next to one of those heroes, working the clay with the same level of confidence, with the same skill. And your finished pots will be just as beautiful.

Wednesday, March 22, 2017

Today we have a guest post from Leonora Meriel, author of The Woman Behind the
Waterfall, on publishing and marketing as an indie author.

With the incredible changes happening every year in the
publishing industry, it’s hard to keep up with what the latest advice is.Indie publishing or traditional publishing?
Agent or no agent? Structural editor or line editor? KDP exclusive distribution
or distribution everywhere?

With all these things to make difficult choices about as a
writer, there are just a few things which are clear and simple.Here are the top 5 things that I consider
essential to being a successful writer who is proud of their work!

1.Quality
quality quality. This should be the first, middle and last thing you think
about in your writing. The quality should be in the writing itself (the very
best you can do, and a bit more!), in the editing and in the proof reading.
Ensuring quality means investing in quality, so that means choosing an editor
and proofreader with a great reputation; and investing in time which means
giving it that extra edit and extra read before you publish.

2.Get an
amazing cover. Your writing is the very best quality. You have invested in
a great editor and proofreader. Now you need a cover that tells the reader that
what is inside your book is fantastic. Its time to invest again. If you want
the best of the best, go to the bookshop, find a cover you love, and find out
who designed it (the name is usually on the back cover or inside). Google them
and see if they do freelance work. Designers usually do. The next route is to
find a designer with a good reputation and show them the cover you love. Ask
for something similar. You’ll end up with a brilliant design that shouts
quality and appeals to the readers you’re targeting.

3.Go for as
many formats as possible. E-book is easy. We’ve all got that. Print book is
also quite easy, although it takes a bit more quality control. But what about
audiobook? With the advent of ACX (www.acx.com)
it is now both incredibly easy and extremely fun to set up audiobooks. ACX is
part of Amazon, which owns Audible, where most audiobooks are sold. This means
that you are producing your audiobook directly into the distribution channel.
It’s the audio equivalent of KDP or Create Space. With clear instructions, you
explain what your book is about, set your budget (as high as possible for a
great narrator), choose your narrator, and then wait for them to produce it. My
own audiobook was produced in 2 months. No stress. No effort. But my work is
now available for a completely new market of audio fans. No brainer.

4.Finish
the book and start another. It takes months – sometimes years – to write a
book. And the person you are when you wrote the first line is not the same
person you are when you write the last line. You’re a much better writer, in
fact. You’ve learned a lot while you’ve been crafting 50 – 100,000 words. So
what do you do? Do you start again, and re-write the novel from the beginning,
as the new-and-better writer you are? And when you’ve done that…. do you repeat
the process? There has to be a finish line, and you need to be clear about your
finish line. Stephen King recommends the formula “2 drafts and a polish” in his
brilliant book “On writing”. For you, it might be 3 drafts and a polish. But
then you need to stop! Get the line editor hired. Get the proof reader on it.
And publish. Then start the new one. Because you book you write next will be a
new, brilliant work, written with you as the new skilled writer you are. Know
when to draw the line. There’s always a new book to write.

5.Be good
to other writers. It’s a grueling job writing books. It takes months or
years to produce one work. We put our sweat, emotions, hours, passions, open
hearts, late nights and all our money into our books, and then we are dependent
on people liking them to have any success at all. It’s brutal. But one thing we
can do is share our burden by being good to other writers. Reach out and
connect with them. Read their books and review them. Meet up with ones near
you. Share your advice and knowledge and experience. Share your contacts – your
best editor and your cover designer. Write blog posts for writing blogs! It may
not directly help you to be successful, but it will make the journey more
beautiful – and help you to have the stamina to keep writing until your
masterpiece becomes a worldwide bestseller. We’re all sharing a dream – let’s
help each other reach it.

Leonora Meriel grew up in
London and studied literature at the University of Edinburgh and Queen’s
University, Ontario. She worked at the United Nations in New York, and then for
a law firm. In 2003 she moved to Kyiv, where she founded and managed Ukraine’s
largest Internet company. She studied at Kyiv Mohyla Business School and earned
an MBA. During her years in Ukraine, she learned to speak Ukrainian and
Russian, witnessed two revolutions and got to know an extraordinary country at
a key period of its development. In 2008, she returned to her dream of being a
writer, and completed The Woman Behind the Waterfall, set in a village
in western Ukraine. Her second book, The Unity Game will be released in
May 2017.

For seven-year old Angela, happiness is exploring the lush
countryside around her home in western Ukraine. Her wild imagination takes her
into birds and flowers, and into the waters of the river. All that changes
when, one morning, she sees her mother crying. As she tries to find out why,
she is drawn on an extraordinary journey into the secrets of her family, and
her mother’s fateful choices.

Can Angela lead her mother back to happiness before her innocence is
destroyed by the shadows of a dark past?

Beautiful,
poetic and richly sensory, this is a tale that will haunt and lift its readers.